Two more American Athletic Conference women's lacrosse teams saw their seasons begin Saturday as No. 7-ranked Florida pulled away for a 14-7 win at Louisville, while Vanderbilt was unable to keep pace with No. 2 Notre Dame.
FLORIDA 14, LOUISVILLE 7
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The No.7/8 Florida lacrosse team kicked off the 2021 season on a high note after a 14-7 victory over Louisville at UofL Lacrosse Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Gators registered an extremely balanced offensive attack, with five players recording at least two goals on the afternoon. Seniors Kassidy Bresnahan and Shannon Kavanagh led the way, each recording a hat trick.
Grace Haus, Paisley Eagan and Maggi Hall each tallied two goals of their own in the win as well, with Eagan and Hall each recording their first Gator goals in the game.
Danielle Pavinelli and Shelton Sawers rounded out the scoring column for Florida, with Pavinelli registering her first collegiate goal.
Haus also posted a team-high two assists, while Kavanagh, Bresnahan, Pavinelli, Brianna Harris and Ashley Gonzalez each recorded one assist apiece.
Florida won the battle in the draw circle, coming up with 13-of-23 draws in the game. Kavanagh posted six draw control wins, while Harris tallied five.
As a squad, the Gators recorded eight caused turnovers, led by two apiece from Cara Trombetta and Kaitlyn Dabkowski.
Trombetta also led the way in groundballs for Florida, recording a team-high four. Dabkowski added three of her own in the win, while four Gators collected two: Eagan, Pavinelli, Hall and Sawers.
Redshirt sophomore Sarah Reznick recorded 11 saves in the season opener, notching a .611 save percentage in the win.
The Gators return to action Friday, Feb. 19 against No. 1 North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. Opening draw is slated for 1 p.m.
NOTRE DAME 19, VANDERBILT 5
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Vanderbilt women’s lacrosse team opened the 2021 season with a 19-5 defeat at the hands of No. 2 Notre Dame at the Loftus Sports Center on Saturday.
Vanderbilt (0-1) trimmed a six-goal halftime deficit down to three in the first five minutes of the second half, but the Irish (1-0) pulled away with 12 of the game’s final 13 goals.
“We talked at the end just about cleaning our game up. They recognized today that they had some really great moments and had they limited their mistakes, I think it really could have been a much different game,” Vanderbilt head coach Beth Hewitt said. “Going into the huddle when the seniors and upperclassmen are talking and you hear them basically saying a lot of the things that you would say before the coaches even come up, you have to feel good about that and where we stand. I’m still super excited about what this group will be able to accomplish this year.”
The Irish sprinted out to a 6-0 advantage in the opening 28 minutes. Maddie Souza got the Commodores on the board with 1:58 to go in the half when she beat her defender and fired a shot past the Notre Dame goalkeeper.
The Irish responded by tacking on one more before halftime for a 7-1 edge at the break.
Sophomore goalkeeper Paige Gunning was tested early, making seven first-half saves. Making her 10th career start for the Commodores, Gunning tied a career high with 12 saves.
The Commodores were aggressive right out of the gate in the second half, scoring the first three goals to claw back into the game. Vanderbilt won the draw to start the half before Cassidy Orban sprinted past three defenders and found the back of the net just 13 seconds into the frame.
Vanderbilt kept up the offensive pressure with a strike off the stick of Callie Sundin from a Gabby Fornia feed to trim the Notre Dame advantage down to 7-3. Mikela McCauley kept the run going with her first goal on the season with 25:09 left to make it 7-4.
Over the next five minutes, the Irish bounced back with a 6-0 run of their own to take control at 13-4. Paige Finneran stopped the run with a goal from an Ella Smith assist with 19:35 to pull the visitors within eight.
Notre Dame added six goals in the final 19 minutes.